LDHs nanostructures are a class of layered compounds, which include cationic double hydroxide layers and charge balancing interlayer anions. Recently, nanostructured LDHs have received much attention due to their special characteristics in a wide range of applications, such as catalysis, photochemistry, electrochemistry, polymerization, magnetization, drug delivery, water treatment, ion-exchange removal of toxic ions, CO2 capture, as a layered host for storage/delivery of biologically active molecules, plastics additives, etc.
Common synthesis methods such as sol-gel, co-precipitation, hydrothermal, and mechanochemical methods have been used for synthesis of different nanostructured LDHs (e.g. Mg/Al, Co/Al, Zn/Al, etc.) over the known prior art (see, e.g., Gillman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2007/0053821; Winters et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,968,740; Coen et al., Pat. No. WO 2008/113793; Schomaker et al., Pat. No. EP2261177; O'Hare et al., Pat. No. WO2012/150439). But, all of the aforementioned methods are time-consuming and involve complicated process conditions, such as temperature and pH control. In addition, the methods proposed in the prior art have multiple steps, which require various equipment and materials. Furthermore, in the previous methods, chemical compounds are used as the source of cations, which might be costly for large scale production of LDHs.
Therefore, according to the aforementioned wide range precious applications of LDHs nanostructures, there is a present need for an improved technique, which is efficient, cost-effective and enables mass production of these compounds.